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   alt.os.linux.mint      Looks pretty on the outside, thats it!      30,566 messages   

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   Message 29,388 of 30,566   
   s|b to Chris Elvidge   
   Re: Password incorrect after name change   
   24 Oct 25 17:33:40   
   
   From: me@privacy.invalid   
      
   On Fri, 24 Oct 2025 14:54:46 +0100, Chris Elvidge wrote:   
      
   > You're installing Mint, right?   
      
   Yes, Linux Mint 22.2 Cinnamon 64-bit.   
      
   > You specify your username during the install. As it happens this will   
   > make a directory under /home with your username as its name. E.g. I   
   > specify 'chris' as my username and get a directory /home/chris as my   
   > home directory. You also have a user root with home directory /root.   
   > This is standard. That's your user without root access and your user   
   > with root access.   
   >   
   > As an added 'bonus' Mint will also allow your user (chris) access to   
   > root via sudo. Any users added after that will not have sudo access   
   > until and unless you provide it (see visudo) but this is not usual   
   > unless you are envisaging a multiuser system.   
   >   
   > You can use user chris for autologin, it you want to.   
      
   But this user can access root via sudo you just said. Isn't it wise then   
   to autologin with an added user that doesn't have sudo access? If such a   
   thing is possible.   
      
   > According to your original post your boss, logged in as root, changed   
   > the directory name under /home from (e.g.) chris to Chris - linux is   
   > case sensitive, unlike Windows, so chris and Chris are different. Also   
   > changing the name of a home directory does not change the username. So,   
   > as I explained above, you cannot log in as Chris and expect anything to   
   > work - bad password - as user Chris is not in the password file, and   
   > /home/Chris is also not in the password file, so logging in as chris   
   > will not find a home directory, and will default to /, where you can't   
   > do anything remotely useful.   
      
   I've understood that now. In Windows, messing with c:\users\* will cause   
   problems as well.   
      
   > So log in as chris and use sudo (superuser do) to get access to the root   
   > user's account, if necessary.   
   >   
   > The answer: don't use user root unless you know what you're doing - it   
   > will break something.   
      
   We've learned that the hard way. But it's not an answer to my question:   
      
   Can I install, create a user with root access with no autologin, then   
   create a user with no root access with autologin? If so and I want to   
   access the root account, how? Autologin (no root), then sign off and   
   switch user? Or are there other ways?   
      
   I can test this myself now, but I'd rather ask instead of breaking   
   something again.   
      
   --   
   s|b   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)   

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